Christmas Spirit
by Remus-Chocolade
Summary: Molly is trying to carry on a holiday tradition. Some years it's great, other years her kids don't want to participate at all. Meant to be several oneshots.
1. Why?

**AN: Just a quick oneshoot about Christmas at the Weasleys. I own none of the characters, they belong to J. K. Rowling.**

**December 22 1989**

"Mum, what's the point? It's just me and Ginny this year?" Ron complained as his mother was busy taking inn the dough from the outdoor shelf of the kitchen window.

"Still, it's tradition and it's you, me and your sister and we are going to have fun." Molly firmly rolled up the arms of her dress and adjusted her apron. "Ginny, if you're done washing your hands come here."

The eight-year old girl climbed up on the chair beside her brother and eagerly waited for her mother to cut her a piece of the cold mass.

"It's no fun when Charlie and the twins are in school over Christmas and Bill is in Egypt. I can't even annoy Percy," the young boy said as he got a cube of dough and started to flatten it with his hands.

"Don't be angry with your brothers, they have quidditch and studies and jobs to attend to. Look, a tree!" They were going to have a good time, they had dough, music in the background and many funny cookie-shapes.

"And what category do the twins fall under?" Ron asked sceptical as he pounded the dough. "I made Harry Potter," his sister interrupted as she waved her head and sent a cascade of red hair in the face of her brother.

"Oh, the glorious Potter. Do you plan on marrying him? That's not gonna happen in a million years." He rubbed his face to get the tickling away.

"What's with you today? You usually love these days." His mother placed one hand on her hip and fixed him with her stare.

"Nothing," he said quietly at the same time as it was a knock on the door. Both of the children jumped down from their chairs and went to the door.

"BILL!" Ginny screamed as she was hugged and lifted up by her oldest brother. Ron jumped up on his back and they walked into the kitchen.

"William, why are you home?" Molly said as she wiped the flour off her hands and went to give the walking lump of kids a hug and a kiss each.

"I couldn't miss gingerbread-cookie-baking-day, could I?" the oldest boy said and smiled.

**AN: Is it just me or did Bill just get ever hotter?  
It's a possibility of more like this, but this popped into my head... Guess I'm a bit environmental damaged since I have been baking gingerbread-cookies with misc younger cousins today. WHICH IS REALLY FUN!**

**Review?**


	2. The First One

**December 15 1978**

Molly stood and watched her brother beating her husband.

"Check mate." Fabian had lazily moved one of the pieces and Arthur's king was nothing but splinters. "Fine, you're better than me at chess, but I bet you wouldn't survive a day with my sons." She had to chuckle a little at this. "Well, it's usually me getting all the trouble with them, so you don't have anything to brag about."

Gideon stretched his long arms and placed one around his sister. "This has been really nice and the food was great, but I think it's time for us to head home for bed."

"Yes, it's getting late, but it's something I wanted to ask you about." Molly freed herself and went to sit on the arm of Arthur's chair. "Do you remember when we were young, Grandma would have these days around Christmas where we baked gingerbread-cookies. All of our cousins were there," she finished with a yawn.

"Yeah, I used to eat too much of the dough and get sick. Still I ran around like a maniac." Fabian smiled silly at the memory. "Some thing never change," his brother remarked.

"Well, I was thinking about having a day like that here, just with our kids, and wondered if you could stop by."

"Yeah, we don't have to work, I think. Do we?" Fabian looked at his older brother for an confirmation.

"No, we have this Saturday off," Gideon answered. "But we really have to get going." He looked at his watch to emphasis it.

"Yeah... But it's not _that _late yet," Fabian argued and looked at his own watch, knowing his brother expected him to go straight to bed.

"Yes, it is, your watch have stopped. You should take better care of it," Molly said as she got up to give him a hug. "It's not my fault, it's Kay's," he said as a feeble defence.

"Then we're going," Gideon confirmed, hugged his sister and disapparated. His brother followed a second later.

--

The radio was playing some muggle christmas songs, it was a thin blanket of snow outside and the kids were having fun.

"I want it!" Molly entered the kitchen again to find her two oldest sons fighting over a cookie-shape. "I got it now, you can have it later!" The oldest yelled and yanked it towards himself, the younger following and falling off his chair.

"Don't argue, or none of you will get it." Molly went back to her dough and started rolling it out again. _Pop!_ Fabian apparated right behind and she jumped in surprise.

"Hello. Hey, mini-monsters, what'ya making?" He walked around the table and peered over their shoulders. "A powerful wizard ready to fight evil!" Bill exclaimed and picked up a knife to use as a wand when he demonstrated how the wizard was fighting.

"And you?" Fabian leaned over to get a better look. "A dragon, can't you see?" Charlie replied while trying to get it over on a sheet of baking paper. "Of course. Where have you got all these shapes from?" He picked one up and turned it around until he settled on it being a goat.

"Kay, she said she may come and join the fun later," Molly informed him while helping Percy cut out hearts.

The fire flared up in green for a moment and two people stepped out. "Did you hear us talked about you?" Fabian asked as Charlie and Bill got off their chairs and ran to hug one each. "No, just literally ran into your brother in the Three broomsticks. I brought my camera, smile!" The young woman replied with a smile and lifted a muggle Polaroid camera and temporarily blinded Charlie with the flash.

"Uncle Git, come and se what I've made." Bill dragged his uncle over to the table and pointed. "When are you going to stop calling me that? My name's Gideon, with a D." The young boy giggled and replied "I know, but it's no fun calling you uncle Gid. Now look!"

"Wow, that wasn't bad." He sat down and lifted his nephew up on his lap.

"Fu-" The yell was quickly silenced and everyone turned towards Kay. "Funky, I was going to say funky because the kettle was really hot," she clarified and found a cup, poured in the hot water and found a tea bag.

Soon all the adults were in on the baking, the air smelled of gingerbread-cookies and it started snowing outside again.

"Charlie, send me the hippogriff, will you?" Kay asked from the end of the table. "Then I want your tea." It wasn't as much to get the drink, but everything has to be shared. Just then a scream is heard from upstairs.

"Oh, they're awake again," Molly remarked and turned to take another load of cookies out of the oven. Behind her back her sons agreed that this was a good time to sneak another taste of the dough.

"I'll take care of it." Fabian wiped his hands on his trousers and headed for the stairs. "What'ya gonna do, whack them over the head?" Kay questioned and wiped the flour off her own hands. "No. sometimes you have a disturbing mind," he said with a laugh and they both made their way up the staircase while trying to trip the other one.

"Mum, I need more dough." Bill waved his hands over his head to get his mothers attention. "I think we have used it all now." Molly sighed and rubbed her neck.

"We can go out and play while your mother cleans up here," Gideon suggested, looking at his sister to see if she rather wanted help. "Yeah, go and wash your hands and find your jackets." Charlie groaned and said "We washed our hands before we started and now you wants us to do it _again_. Honestly woman, make up your mind." Still he tried to push his brother away from the sink as if he was in a great hurry.

After a bit of running around to find clothes and shoes the boys ran outside, Gideon walking behind them carrying the two-year-old.

Bill scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at Charlie's back who tried to return the favour, but hit Gideon instead. "So you think you can get away with that?" He said and ran to tackle the two boys.

Meanwhile Molly stood at the kitchen window and watched them play-fight in the snow, happy that they were enjoying themselves. Still, a small voice in the back of her head whispered that they may not be alive next year. She shook the thought out of her head, they had the protection of the Ministry after all.

--

Kay lifted one of the twins up and stroked his back soothingly. Fabian followed her example and for a couple of minutes they walked slowly around the room while the cries died away.

"So, still married?" Fabian tried to flirt when they stood leaning against the wall, holding a sleeping baby each.

"Not for long." She shifted her weight to the other foot and looked down at the face of the small child. Fabian straightened up a bit. "Oh, why?" He asked in a worried voice.

"Nah, nothing special. Are you spending the holiday here, or what are your plans?" She had changed the subject so fast he decided to let it be. "Yeah, think so. If I don't my Christmas dinner would probably be a pizza and if Molly heard of that she would kill me," he joked. She gave a feeble smile and he added "Beside, it's not Christmas without family. What about you?"

"Don't know. Probably have to work." She yawned and lifted the bundle wrapped in blankets higher. The baby in his arms stirred and opened his eyes. "Shh, Georgie, go back to sleep," Fabian whispered and stroked the cheek of the child with his free hand. "That's Fred, I have George," Kay corrected him and chucked a little.

"Anyway, don't start crying again. Is it a lot of traffic in the Broomsticks now?" He turned towards her and saw that she was staring out the window, deep in thought.

"It's open 24 hours now in December, so... Meet a lot of nice people, though." She took a small step towards him and looked up in his blue-green eyes. "Just drop by sometimes if you want to."

--

"Mum, come and see what we have made!" Bill and Charlie was standing in the sitting room, dripping water down on the rug and wondering how long time it was possible to use on getting up from the sofa.

"I'm coming, just go outside again," their mother answered, realising it had been stupid of her to expect it to be quiet a long time. She found a pair of shoes that may hold the wet snow out for five minutes and followed the sound of playing.

"How in Merlin's good name have you made that?" She walked around the 12 feet high snow sculpture and took in all the details. When she had taken it all in, from the pointy hat to the crooked nose to the long beard, she looked at her brother. He scratched his chin and took his time to answer. "Well, the boys wanted to make a snow-man."

Molly frowned at her brother. "And? This is a bit much, don't you think?" He only looked at her as if he had to explain one plus one. "I might have been carried away a bit, but what's the point of magic if you can't have a bit fun with it?" He admitted.

"Do you see who it is? Do you?" Charlie started to pull at the skirt of his mother, jumping up in excitement.

"Yes, it's Albus Dumbledore. Let's go inside, I'll make hot chocolate." Her sons ran inside while she slowly walked back with Gideon.

"So you think it's a bit too much to have a snow sculpture of the headmaster of Hogwarts in the garden?" He put his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"No, not when you made it," she acknowledged and ruffled his short, bronzecoloured curls.

**AN: Yeah, I got a bit carried away. And I just have to say I love to write about the Weasley-boys when they were young :D  
Kay= Kevin Casey, and OC/Mary-Sue of mine who have a way of sneaking in everywhere, but I'll try to shut her out of future installments ;) **


	3. Snow

**AN: I got carried away again, so it's way too long. It was fun to write, though. It doesn't have any of the actually baking, but I wanted one with what they did afterwards ;)  
Kinda inspired by my weekend. **

**December 21 1985**

"Go outside and play while I clean up." Molly tried to not get mad at Fred, it wasn't his fault that Charlie had taken the play-quaffle from Ron and thrown it to Fred who had ducked and the quaffle had hit the water pitcher.

"I'll sweep it up, Mum," Charlie insisted and looked wildly around for a broom or anything at all. "No, you are all going to go outside and I am going to clean this absolute mess you have made here!" She shouted after being pushed far enough, the kitchen was covered in flour, dough, cookie-shapes and toys.

"Okay, I just wanted to help. Is our clothes in the sitting room?" Charlie took a small step backwards and exchanged a look with his older brother. His mother rubbed the bridge of her nose and nodded. The kids made their way out of the kitchen as quietly as possible and found the heap of newly laundered clothes.

"Let's see, this'll fit Ron, this goes to Percy, this... I remember wearing this. I guess it'll fit Ginny," Bill commented while picking up and handing out wool sweaters his mother had knitted for them through the years. "And dear Charles is getting this." Charlie stuck out his tongue and grabbed the powder-blue sweater from his brother's hands. He got it over his head and was going to pull it over his body, but it didn't go further. He tried getting it back over his head, but it didn't do much difference. "Great, I'm stuck!" He sighed.

Bill just went over, took a hold of the edge of the clothing and pulled it down using his body to weigh it down. "There you go," he said with a voice more appropriate using on their sister, earning some laughs from the other siblings. "This have to be yours," he told Ginny as he picked up a woollen skirt, ignoring the glare from Charlie.

The thick, blue sweater threatened to smother it's wearer and an idea formed. "Fred, grab there, George, you there. Do you have it? Ready to hold it hard?" The twins nodded and gripped as hard as they managed with both hands. Their brother bent down and backed out of the sweater, his head popped out of the collar and they fell backwards at the sudden release.

"What did you do that for?" Bill looked at his younger brothers, all with triumphant smiles and one with very messy hair. "It's too tight around my shoulders and too long on the arms. You take it, I'm taking this," Charlie said and snatched up a black one. "Fine!" He lifted Ginny down from the chair, now dressed in wool from top to toe and ready to go out. After wrenching the powder-blue mess from the twins and giving them sweaters of their own he took it on and started sorting out some trousers from the pile of woollyness.

"Percy, Ronny, me, George, Charlie, Fred." The muttering died out when he started dealing out the gloves and hats and soon they were ready and walked in a line back into the kitchen where their mother sat by the table with a cup of tea.

"Are you going to put on some coats too?" She asked as they were heading out the door. "Nah, it's not that cold," Bill said as he helped Ron with his boots on the front step. "Are you sure?" She wanted them to keep warm as long as possible. "Yes, we are. Stand still or you can do it yourself!" Charlie tried to tie the shoes for Fred, but it wasn't easy when he was having a snowball-fight with George at the same time. "Take some of the gingerbread-cookies you made, I just took the last ones out of the oven and they are really tasty." Molly went around and gave them one each, some took it with their mouth and ate it at once, other used more time, enjoying every last crumb.

After some time they were all shoe'd and went out in the garden, occasionally throwing a snowball at each other.

"So, what should we do?" Percy looked from one brother to the other, expecting them to come up with something. "Hide and go seek," Ron piped up from where he had seated himself in the deep snow. "Maybe you want to do that, but I find it rather dull," Percy informed as Ginny hit him in the back with a snowball.

"I think it sounds kind of fun, anyone else want to?" Bill let the question hang in the air for a moment. Ginny sat down beside Ron and nodded, Fred and George stopped tickling Charlie and yelled "Yeah!" while the latter sat up, found his hat in the snow and nodded too.

"I can start seeking, I'm counting to twenty and you can hide in garden or the woods." He turned and covered his eyes with his hands and counted slowly, loud enough for the younger children to hear.

After reaching twenty he opened his eyes and looked around. It was footprints going everywhere, but it seemed to be several pairs of them going towards the broom shed, so he started there. He opened the door and on the floor, trying to hide behind one of the brooms was Ron. "Found you. Let's go and see if we can find the others," he said and took the hand of his youngest brother. They started walking around the house without much sign of any others until Ron gazed up on the roof.

"What are you doing up there? Get down before you _fall _down," Bill yelled upwards at Charlie who sat on the top of the roof, legs crossed and broom in his lap. "Coming, _Mum_," he replied, mounted it and made a dive, landing a bit too hard and rolled over in the snow.

"It's not you I'm worried about, but if the twins see you they are gonna try and they have a way of getting hurt no matter what they do." He furrowed his brows and looked into the woods. "And the thing about twins is that they should be in plural, even though they are bloody annoying. Come, I think I saw someone."

The someone turned out to be Percy, kneeling in the snow behind a tree, waiting for them. "You aren't good at hiding," Ron commented while they walked deeper into the forest on the outlook of the rest. "He found you first," Percy retorted and pulled his hat back down over his ears.

A small giggle went trough the cold air and they stopped in their tracks. "No, we might as good give up, we're never gonna find Ginny," Charlie said in a light jokingly voice. The giggle was heard again. "You're probably right, she's just too good at hiding." Bill joined in and started looking around for a streak of red hair or green sweater.

The giggle was heard again and they walked casually around a birch and looked up. They saw their sister about 7 feet above the ground before they got a load of snow thrown down at them.

"There you are! Come down and we'll look for the twins," Bill said and put his hand up to shade for the bright sun. She shook her head as a response.

"Then I have to come up and get you." Charlie had already made out the way he had to climb to get up to her, the mystery was how she had gotten up in the first place. She shook her head again and laughed. "Okay, then I have no choice," he said and began climbing, reaching her and sat down on the same branch. "Come, you can sit on my back and I'll get us both down," he tried reasoning with her.

"You don't have to be scared, he won't drop you," Bill called from down on the ground. She shook her head again and threw herself forward to give her brother a hug. Since he was too confident in himself to hold on to something, they both toppled over and fell to the ground.

"Are you all right? What were you thinking, jumping at him like that?" Bill covered the distance between him and his sister in two long strides. She looked up at him with big, brown eyes from where she lay over Charlie's chest, just as they had landed. "As long as you're not hurt... But never do anything like that again." Bill tried to make her understand what she had done, at the same time he couldn't stay angry at her.

"Yeah, I'm great, thanks for asking. I seem to spend a lot of the day on the ground, but the snow is really warm and nice," it came sarcastically from Charlie as he lifted Ginny off himself and got up.

"Then it's just the twins left," Percy noted and received a snowball in the face from Ron. "Don't do that, my glasses gets dirty." He took them off and tried wiping them clean on his sweater.

They walked deeper in between the trees, following the trail in the snow which was twisting and turning and never staying on the pat. As it got boring Bill tried to trip Charlie, who hit him on the arm and got a face-full of snow in response. He then jumped up on the back of the older boy, ruffling his hair and causing him to kneel under the weight. They ended up play-fighting for several minutes, and in the end laying beside each other on their backs, breathing heavily.

Ginny and Ron had imitated them, now he was sitting on her stomach, realising his brothers had stopped, simply rolled over and looked up at the sky.

"Are you done? Lets go!" Percy sounded cold and miserable and Bill got up unwillingly and shook the snow out of his hair. "Yeah, lets find them before they destroy something."

As Ginny got up she began to pull her sweater off. "No, keep it on or you'll freeze," Bill told her. "It's itching," she nearly cried, stopping the pulling. Her oldest brother sat down on his knees in front of her, took out his wand from his sweater and whispered something. A small yellow fog swirled around her for a moment and the wool stopped itching. "Better?" he asked. She nodded and ran to throw some snow at Ron.

It started to snow and they hurried up not to lose the track and soon found themselves in a big clearing. "Okay, come out, you're the last ones," Bill called out. A small tuft of red hair moved by one of the tombstones. He walked towards it fast, but when he looked behind it his brother was already gone. "You won, come out," he called again and turned to look if they had hid behind him. "It's not funny." He was starting to get a bit uncomfortable.

A red sweater coughed his attention and he ran, tackling the smaller boy, pinning him to the ground with his body and taking hold of his arms. Both grinned as he asked where Fred was.

"I _am _Fred," the younger retorted as he tried to get loose. "No, you're George. Where is he?" He never got his answer as the other twin jumped up on his back and grabbed hold of his long hair. "Okay, okay, I surrender, let go," he begged after a short struggle. They fell still and it dawned at them where they were sitting.

The rest of the kids joined them and Bill brushed some of the snow off the headstone, reading out loud "Gideon Prewett, March 2nd 1950 to October 24th 1981. Beloved brother, uncle..." His voice died out as he traced the words with his fingers. "We shouldn't be sitting here," Percy pointed out, his voice soft and almost scared. Still it took a couple of minutes before they got up and made their way back home.

--

"Don't stand there and drip water all over, take it off! I'll get blankets and you can sit by the fire and get warm and dry again." Molly made her way between her drenched children and went up the stairs.

They slowly began taking off the wool sweaters and trousers and quickly realised most of them was wet on the clothes they had underneath too. Molly came down to find seven children wearing nothing but underwear and a pile of soaked sweaters, jeans, shirts, trousers and socks on the kitchen table.

She sighed and gave them a blanket each, gestured for them to take a chair and started hanging the clothes up over the stove by magic. "How do you manage to get so wet?" She checked that none of the clothes were hanging too close over the heat. "Move over here, it's not room for you all there." Charlie and the twins stopped trying to get some heat from behind the others and took their mother's advice.

"What have you been doing?" She made Charlie bend forward and looked at the bruise on his back. "I fell," he answered, sat up again and took the quilt around his shoulders. "From where?" She was starting to get worked up again. "From the moon," he joked before looking at her expression. "From a tree." She seemed satisfied with the answer and put a pot on the heat.

"Chocolate? It smells like hot chocolate!" One of the twins stood up on his chair to confirm that that's what it was. "Yes, it is. We should have some music here," his mother said and got some cups while Percy got up and turned on the big wireless out in the sitting room.

When Arthur got home from work he was surprised to find all his kids dancing to _Jingle bell rock_, wearing nothing but their underpants. "What...?" He looked confused as his wife, but she only gave him a cup of hot chocolate and a kiss on the cheek.

**AN: I kinda ran out of ways of writing _the brother, _but I get even more tired of writing/reading the names all the time.  
And this should totally be a comic! :D **


End file.
